Safety appliance for clutch devices.



K. `J. SMITH. SAFETY APPLIANCE ECE CLUTCH DEVICES.

APPLIOATION FILED AG. 16, 1907.

, 937,481 Patented om.. 19,1909.

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lllllnllllllllllllllllllllllllI 51412014450@ 99.3%; mtomyggnb I 44 Znected thereto by means of a clutch operated KILIAN J. SMITH, 0F NEWYORK, N. Y.

SAFETY APPLIANCE non CLUTCH DEVICES.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

Application led August 16, 1907. Serial No. 388,843.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, KILIAN J. SMITH, `a citizen of the United States,andresident of the city of New York, in the county of Kings and State ofNew York, haveinvented cer tain new and useful Improvements in SafetyAppliances for Clutch Devices, ofV which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to automatic releasing devices adapted for usewith clutch devices as ordinarily used in connection with power presses.y

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and efhcient devicewhich may be used in connection with clutch mechanisms of various typesby a simple change in the connection means without change in the clutchmechanism. Y

The use and operation of the ordinary clutch mechanism of a power pressis well known and need not be explained` herein further than to set outthe features of operation whieh are common to all. In such machines aheavy fly-wheel is continually rotating and the punch mechanism is conbya foot-treadle. lhen the foot-treadle is pressed the clutch `connectsthe punch 1nechanism with the rotating fly-wheel and the punch is causedto operate as long as the foot treadle is held down. In a large class ofwork .done upon these power presses only one operation of the punch isrequired and then the operator raises his foot from the treadle, thusreleasing the clutch and stopping the punch. The operator then placesthe next piece under the punch and the operation is repeated. It is wellknown that accidents frequently occur in the operation of these pressesby reason of the carelessness of the operator in not raising his footfrom the treadle at the right time, or from the treadle becoming caught,etc. This not only frequently causes serious injury to the operatorthrough loss of lingers or hand but also gray cause much damage to thepress and the les.

The principaly object of this invention is to provide a device by meansof which such accidents may be prevented and the operatiofn of machineryof this nature rendered, sa e.

In carrying out my invention I have provided a releasing device ofsimple construction and positive in its operation which lmay be usedwith any of the standardl makes of power presses without changing themechanism of the press other than to simply connect my device betweenthe foot-treadle and the clutch, which may be done by providing twoshorter link connections instead of one long one ordinarily used.

My device is so designed that it may be mounted in any position and whenso mounted will operate equally well, as will be seen from thedescription hereinafter.

In the drawing I have shown a construction which I have found by actualuse to be a very efficient form of device for the purpose set out.Various other forms may be found to accomplish the desired results aswell but it will be sufficient for the purpose of illustrating theoperation of my invention to describe in detail the construction asshown.

In the several views similar parts have been given the same referencecharacter.

Figure l is a front elevation, with the cover removed, of a device suchas described. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1 with the portionbetween the broken lines 2-2 in section, looking in the direction of thearrows. Fig. 3 is a detail view.

Two movable members are provided, the first comprising a sliding rod 1,having a suitable attachment at the upper end for connecting the same tothe clutch mechanism of the press. At the lower portion of the rod l ismounted a flanged collar 2, preferably by threading the same thereon asshown. The lower end of the rod l extends into a second movable memberl0, which will presently be described, to form a guide.

Held between suitable jam-nuts 2, 3 and 4 on the rod l is a cross-piece5 which slides upon guide rods 6 and 7 on either side. Springs 8 and 9are mounted upon these guide rods and are compressed when the crosspiece 5 is moved. These springs tend to keep the first movable memberjust described in its initial or uppermost position, as shown in Fig. l.

The second movable member above re ferred to comprises a tubular rod l0,at the upper end of which is mounted a support ll upon which arepivotally mounted two latches l2 and l3.- These latches are normallyheld, by means of suitable springs as shown, in engagement with theflanged collar 2, as shown in Fig. 2. In this position any movement ofthe second member would cause a concurrent movement of the first member.The lower end of the rod 10 is by means of a suitable connectionconnected with the lever 1-1. rIhis lever is pivotally mounted at oneend to a projection 15 from the housing 16 and at its opposite end ispreferably provided with a segment shaped portion 17 having severalpoints of attachment for the foot-treadle. This segment shaped port-ionis for the purpose of providing for mounting the device in any position,as it will be seen that at whichever point the foottreadle is connectedthe resultant pull upon the lever 14 and the rod 10 will be in the samedirection. It will of course beunderstood that the projection 15 may bechanged to the opposite side of the device, thus reversing, the lever14, without changing the operation thereof.

A releasing member 18 is mounted in the lower portion of the housing 16,preferably by threading the same therein as shown. The Lipper end ofthis releasing member 18 is enlarged, as shown at 19, and the innerportion beveled so as to engage the lower ends of the latches 12 and 13when the same are moved downward. A set screw 20 secures the releasingmember in position after the same has been adjusted to the requiredpoint with relation to the movable members and the latches 12 and 13.

Assuming the device to be mounted upon a press and the upper rod 1connected to the clutch mechanismand the lower rod 10 connected to thefoot-treadle by the levers 11 and l17, as described, the operation ofthe same is as follows: Upon pressing the foottreadle the lower rod 10will be moved down, carrying the latches 12 and 13 which then engage thecollar 2 and so moving the rod 1 down therewith. This operates theclutch to which the rod 1 is connected. Now the releasing members 18-19having been set so as to engage the latches 12 and 13 just as the saidclutch is operated the further movement of the members causes the lowerends of the latches 12 and 13 to be brought together by engaging thebeveled portion of the releasing member 19, as shown in the dottedoutline in Fig. 3. This movement causes the latches 12 and 13 to releasethe collar 2 attached to rod 1 and as the downward movement of the rod 1and cross piece 5 has compressed the springs 8 and 9 the sameimmediately return the upper movable part-s to their initial position,thus releasing the clutch on the press and rendering the sameinoperative until the foot-treadle is again raised, causing the latches12 and 13 to again engage the collar 2, and the operation repeated asbefore. It will thus be seen that one movement of the foot-treadle downcan only cause one operation of the punch, regardless of how long thetreadle is held down. This renders it impossible for the operator tokeep the punch in operation as the same is automatically released afterone operation and thus accidents are avoided.

The releasing member may be adjusted for any desired movement of thetreadle to provide for a quick or a slow release of the clutch, thisdepending upon the construction of the clutch mechanism and also uponthe class of work to be done.

The device is compact and self-contained and by reason of itsconstruction may be applied to any type of press as well as adapted tomany other uses when it is desired to automatically release or control apart of the mechanism of a machine.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of my invention designed withoutdeparting from the scope thereof, I intend that all matter contained inthe above description'oi` shown in the accompanying drawing shall bcinterpreted as illustrative merely of an operative embodiment of myinvention and not in a limitingsense.

that I claim is:

1. In a releasing device, in combination, a pair of movable members, apair of latches pivotally mounted upon one of said members and adaptedto engage the other of said members on opposite sides thereof and causethe same to move concurrently therewith, means for releasing saidlatches from engagement with said second member at a predetermined pointin their travel, and means for returning the member so released to itsinitial position.

2. In a releasing device, in combination, a pair of movable members, apair of latches carried by one of said members and adapted tosimultaneously engage the other of said members on opposite sidesthereof and cause the same to move concurrently with said Erst namedmember, an adjustable releasing member so positioned with relation tosaid movable members that when the same have reached a predeterminedposition in their travel said latches will engage said releasing memberand be caused simultaneously to release the movable member held thereby,and means for returning the member so released to its initial position.

3. In a releasing device, in combination, a pair of movable members, apair of latches carried by one of said members and adapted tosimultaneously engage the other of said members on opposite sideslthereof and cause the same to move concurrently with said first namedmember, an adjustable releasing member so positioned with relation tosaid movable members that when the same have reached a predeterminedposition in their travel said latches will engage said releasing memberand be caused simultaneously to release the movable member held thereby,and a spring compressed by said movement of said movable members andadapted to return the member released to its initial position.

4. In a releasing device, in combination, a pair of movable members, asupport upon Which said movable members are mounted, said support alsoforming a housing inclosing the operative portion of said releasingdevice, a pair of latches pivotally mounted upon opposite sides of oneof said movable members and so positioned that the same Will engage theother of said members on opposite sides thereof When said members areboth in their initial position and cause said second member to move Whensaid first named member` is moved, an adjustable releasing` membermounted in said support and so positioned with relation to said movablemembers that When the same have reached a predetermined point saidlatches are caused to engage saidv releasing member and to release saidsecond movable member, and a pair of springs positioned in said supporton opposite sides of said movable members adapted to be compressed bythe movement of said members and operatively connected to said secondmovable member so as to return the same to its initialposition Whenreleased. l

5. A clutch comprising in its construction a pair of movable memberspositioned in axial alinement, a pair of latches pivotally mounted onone of said members and adapted to engage the other of said members andcause the same to move concurrently therewith, a stop so positioned withrelation to said latches that the same are engaged thereby at apredetermined point in their travel and caused to release said lastnamed member, and means for returning said member to its initialposition when released.

6. In a releasing device, a pair of movable members, means for causingsaid members to move together, a cross-piece secured to one of saidmembers, a guide-rod upon each side of said member upon Which saidcross-piece is sl-idable, means for releasing said members from theirinterengagement, and springs surrounding said guide rods and bearingagainst said cross-piece.

7. In a releasing device, a pair of movable members, means for causingsaid members to move together, a cross-piece secured to one. of saidmembers, a guide-rod upon each side of said member upon which saidcross-piece is slidable, means for releasing said members from theirinterengagement, springs surrounding said guide rods and bearing againstsaid cross-piece, and means for adjusting the cross-piece relatively tothe member which carries it.

Signed at the city of New York, in the county of New York, and State ofNew York this 13th day of Aug. A. D. 1907.

KILIAN J. SMITH.

Witnesses LEWIS J. DooLITTLE, J. EDWARD GOLDEN.

